) Hy, 
OU. te & 


“NOTES 
ON 
INDIA 


Successes 
Peculiarities 
Incidents 


By 
JAMES L. BARTON 


ENVELOPE SERIES A QUARTERLY 
Vol. V., No. 2 July, 1g02 


Entered at the Post Office, Boston, Mass., as second-class matter 


PLEASE READ AND CIRCULATE 


ENVELOPE SERIES A QUARTERLY 
Vol. V., No. 2 July, 1902 


NOTES ON INDIA 


BY 


JAMES L. BARTON 
Secretary 


And Member of the Recent Deputation 
to India 


PUBLISHED BY THE 


American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions 


Annual Subscription, 10 Cents 


Address, CHarLes E, Swett, Congregational House 
14 BEACON STREET, Boston, Mass. 


Entered at the Post Office, Boston, Mass., as second-class matter 


PREFACE. 


We are glad to present in this number of the En- 
velope Series the ‘Notes on India,” prepared by 
Secretary James L. Barton, who, as a member of 
the deputation sent out by the Board, has recently 
visited the missions in India and Ceylon. ‘These 
Notes give glimpses of the field in which our 
missions are located, some of the successes achieved 
and some of the peculiarities and difficulties of the 
work in that land. 

It would give the greatest satisfaction if there 
could be many orders for this leaflet, whether by 
the pastors, or missionary committees, or the lead- 
ets of Endeavor Societies. 

We also invite those who receive this issue of the 
Envelope Series to become paying subscribers to the 
series by inclosing fen cents to Mr. Charles E, 
Swett, [4 Beacon Street, Boston, Mass, 


NOTES ON INDIA. 


India is a land of mystery and marvel. It 
covers an area one half that of the United 
States. Its population is four times that of 
our Own country, two and a half times that 
of the old Roman Empire in its highest 
glory, and nearly one-fifth that of the entire 
world. More nations are found there than 
on the continent of Europe, and they speak 
at least seventy languages and dialects. 


INDIA HAS HAD A WONDERFUL 
HISTORY. 


“When, thirty centuries ago, our ancestors 
were groveling in the lowest stages of primi- 
tive savagery, our fellow Aryans of India 
were rejoicing in a civilization of their own, 
which was, in its way, unique and distin- 
guished. Their language, ever strong, pliant, 
expressive, was the worthy vehicle of noble 
thought and religious aspiration. Their phi- 
losophy has perhaps indicated the highest 
reach of self-propelled human reason and 
metaphysical ingenuity which the world has 
ever known. Their religion is the most re- 
markable ethnic faith ever constructed by 
sin-laden man, —the most remarkable in the 
multiplicity of its gods, in the elaboration of 
its ritual, in the tyranny of its compact social 
organism, and inits power of resistance, No 


3 


other land can boast of so voluminous a 
religious literature. Around much the long- 
est epic ever written by man gather number- 
less tomes of song and prayer, of ceremony 
and law, of myth and legend, of high senti- 
ment and debasing superstition. All is re- 
garded as equally inspired, and often the 
worst is held in highest esteem.” 


A WONDERFUL CONFLICT IS IN PROG- 
RESS. 


“ Christianity, the mightiest of missionary 
religions, is engaged in a struggle with the 
greatest of ethnic faiths. Never before did 
our faith meet so doughty and subtle a foe. 
Neither Roman law and rule nor Greek phi- 
losophy and ideals were comparable to the . 
mighty powers which Hinduism is putting 
forth to-day in order to arrest the progress 
of Christianity in that land and to rob it of 
its success. It brings to the (defensewa 
morally hypnotic, stupefying philosophy, a 
bewildering pantheon, an all-embracing cere- 
monial, a crushing social tyranny and a de- 
fiant, unscrupulous hierarchy. All these add 
heat and passion to the struggle, and will 
defer the final issue; but they cannot dis- 
courage the Christian worker in that land, 
nor blind him to the fact that already the 
people are gradually transferring their alle- 
giance from Krishna to Christ. For centuries 
Christianity has conducted this war in that 
country. But it is only during the last cen- 
tury that it has wisely met this foe and has 
wrenched from it some of the grandest 
trophies of the ages. ‘The day of solid prog- 
ress and permanent success has dawned 


4 


upon our work, prophetic of the ultimate 
triumph which is to crown the efforts of 
God’s church in that great country. The 
two thousand missionaries and the twenty 
thousand native Christian workers represent 
a mighty force, which, under God, will pro- 
duce a grand revolution among that ancient 
people. This revolution is now going on. 
The million Christians in our Protestant mis- 
sion churches are rapidly growing not only 
numerically, but also in intelligent religious 
zeal and power, and in social position and 
influence. The three hundred thousand 
scholars in our mission schools, studying 
God’s Word and learning the spirit of our 
faith, give but a small suggestion of the all- 
pervasive leavening influence of our teaching 
and life in that land. The present ferment 
and change and unrest now witnessed in 
Hinduism itself is encouraging evidence of 
the trend of battle.”— Dr. Jones. 


CEYLON AND INDIA. 


While the island of Ceylon is separate 
from India as far as the administration of its 
government is concerned, its mission work 
is closely affiliated with that of India. Our 
work there is confined to the Tamil people 
of the Jaffna Peninsula, who emigrated from 
India long ago, and whose language is the 
same as that of the Tamils of Southern 
India, among whom our Madura Mission is 
at work. 

The Marathi Mission in India and the 
Ceylon Mission are the two oldest missions 
of our Board, the former having been begun 
in 1813, and the latter in 1816. Missiona- 


3) 


ries from Ceylon went over to India and 
began the Madura Mission in 1834. While 
Jaffna is not far removed from India, it is 
not an easy matter to journey from one to 
the other, as the ordinary line of travel does 
not pass that way. A new railroad from 
Madura to the sea at a point in communica- 
tion with Jaffna by a regular boat service 
will bring the two missions much nearer 
together. 

‘The American Board has at work in these 
three missions, 86 missionaries, of whom 30 
are ordained men. ‘These dwell in 25 dif- 
ferent places, and are carrying on work 
through the aid of native workers in 513 
different places. There are 105 organized 
churches connected with our missions, having 
a membership of nearly 12,000. There are 
1,539 trained men and women who are 
Christian pastors, preachers, evangelists, cate- 
chists, Bible readers and teachers, working 
with our missionaries. The churches last 
year received on confession over fifteen hun- 
dred new members, and the people gave, for 
the support of their own religious and educa- 
tional institutions and for the extension of 
the gospel, over nineteen thousand dollars. 
When we remember that the country is des- 
perately poor, and that during the famine of 
the last three years many Christians have 
been compelled to resort to the relief works 
to keep from starving, and when we bear in 
mind that in that country a day’s wage aver- 
ages from six to fifteen cents, the laborer 
supplying his own food, it becomes clear 
that these gifts cost much sacrifice. 

These three missions are conducting a 
Christian educational work ranging from the 


6 


most primitive village school under a tree, to’ 
Jaffna and Pasumalai Colleges, and Ahmed- 
nagar and Pasumalai Thelogical Seminaries. 
Over twenty-eight thousand pupils and 
students are studying in these various in- 
stitutions, in preparation, many of them, for 
alife of service for their own people. These 
few statistics give but a faint impression of 
the amount of work carried on by our mis- 
sionaries in these three important missions 
of our Board. 


“CAT AND MONKEY THEOLOGY.” 


There are two distinct kinds of religious 
teachings among the non-Christians in India ; 
one is called the “cat principle’ and the 
other the “ monkey principle.” The first is 
represented by the Mohammedans, who be- 
lieve that all men are in the hands of a God 
who determines their destiny whatever they 
themselves may do; the second, by some 
classes, if not most of the Hindus, who 
teach that the destiny of each individual 
depends upon his own acts. The names 
which characterize the two schools of thought 
are taken from the fact that when a cat 
wishes to transfer her kitten to another place: 
she catches it by the nape of his neck and, 
with no codperation from the kitten, and 
without conference or consultation, takes 
him along. 

With the monkey it is different. When 
the mother wishes to carry her young, she 
leaps over it and the baby monkey clings 
with its four feet to the breast of the 
mother, or it leaps upon the mother’s back, 
and is thus transported. ‘The mother pre- 


7 


sents herself, but the weaker one must put 
trust in the parent and cling for dear life 
while being carried to a place of safety. 

The missionary teaching is in the line of 
the monkey theology, God cooperating with 
men for their own redemption. 


THE SUNDAY-SCHOOL. 


The Sunday-school has a large place in 
the work of our missionaries in India and 
Ceylon. Nearly all of the day schools have 
a regular Sunday session, which is regarded 
by the pupils as of equal importance with 
the other days of the week. While the Bible 
and singing are taught in some form each 
day of the week, the Sunday-school is 
given up entirely to sacred things. Many 
a Sunday-school is composed of Hindu 
pupils entirely, but they make no _ objec- 
tions to Sunday attendance or to the Sunday 
studies. , 

Passages of Scripture are committed to 
memory and Christian lyrics and hymns are 
taught the children, many of whom take 
great pleasure in the musical part of the 
program. ‘These countries have one advan- 
tage in this work which we do not have in 
the United States, — children learn there 
aloud. ‘They study aloud and, when they 
say anything over to themselves, they talk 
it right out. Therefore, when. a Sunday- 
school scholar is taught a passage of Scrip- 
ture and enjoined not to forget it, he will say 
it over to himself aloud whenever the im- 
pulse strikes him during the week. In this 
way he is teaching his parents and his play- 
mates the same lessons he is learning himself. 


8 


Some of the churches carry on mission 
Sunday-schools in which the members of the 
church take an active part, like the Navaly 
Church in Manepay, Ceylon. The depu- 
tation saw Sunday-schools in churches, in 
schoolhouses, in leper asylums, under trees, 
in orphan asylums, in hospitals, among 
blind children, and, in fact, in about every 
place where Christian work could be carried 
on; and everywhere they had but one aim, 
and that was, to so bring to bear upon the 
lives of the attendants the single truth of 
the gospel of Christ that they should be 
touched with his Spirit and transformed 
into his disciples. 

In our own missions in these countries 
there are over twenty-one thousand pupils 
in the Sunday-schools. Hundreds of these 
schools are conducted without the presence 
of a missionary, being in full charge of a 
native pastor or teacher, or an earnest Chris- 
tian brother. In but few cases is the super- 
intendent a missionary. A gift of fifteen 
dollars to the American Board will support 
a Sunday-school in one of these countries 
for a year. 


CHRISTIAN ENDEAVOR. 


The Young People’s Society of Christian 
Endeavor has a strong hold in these countries. 
‘Lhe societies in the various boarding schools 
are active in Christian work among their 
fellow-pupils, and in many other ways. When 
the recent deputation of the American 
Board arrived at Madura, they found it the 
center of a strong and aggressive work among 
the young people. During the first Sunday 


9 


in the city, the guests in the afternoon 
were upon the veranda of Mr. Chandler’s 
house watching the more than one hundred 
and fifty girls of the boarding-school re- 
turning from the service in the church. It 
was noticed that they were followed by 
a crowd of some seventy-five rough street 
boys, not in good order, but pressing along 
as if they felt they had a right to. It was 
learned that these girls, representing the 
Endeavor Society, had organized a Sunday- 
school in their schoolroom for the weaver 
boys, for whom no Christian work was carried 
on in the city. These boys were collected 
about the door of the church as the girls 
came out, and were persuaded to come over 
to the school. This Sunday-school had grown 
to about ninety. The school was visited. 
Everything was in the hands of the native 
pupils in the school. Each boy was taught 
to repeat a verse of Scripture and to sing 
Christian lyrics or hymns. 

Christian Endeavor Societies are formed 
in schools where there are no Christians, 
but where all the children are Hindus. In 
America, ‘Christian Endeavor Society” 
means the society of those who are trying to 
live the Christian life. Among those Hindu 
Christian Endeavor Societies in India, it 
means ‘‘A Society of Hindus, who are try- 
ing to learn about the Christian life.” Their 
pledge is, — ‘Trusting in the Lord to help 
me, I promise to attend the meetings of the 
Society regularly; to make a careful study 
of the Bible ; to seek, and, so far as I under- 
stand it, to follow the truth. I also promise 
to lead a clean, pure life, and to help others 
all I can.” 5 


10 


The deputation also found in Northern 
India large Christian Endeavor Societies 
which were doing their best to preach Jesus 
Christ to their associates. At Sirur they had 
a meeting-place upon a high hill back of the 
missionary’s residence, where they met in 
pleasant weather, just before sundown. The 
deputation met about ninety boys upon their 
sacred “round top.” They had brought the 
blind boys along, too, each sightless member 
having assigned to his help a boy with a 
good pair of eyes. The meeting-place of 
those boys upon the mountain faced east- 
ward, so that the boys were looking toward 
where the sun was again to come in its glory 
and flood the land with light. They were 
always facing the east and the place of sun- 
rise when they met for prayer and song. 
This is prophetic of the Young People’s 
Movement in all India to-day. It is looking 
toward the sunrise, it is praying and watching 
for the coming of the Sun of Righteousness 
and the dawning of a new day for that dark 
land of superstition. 


“THE NAME.” 


It is the custom among the Hindus to 
perform an act of worship each morning 
before they partake of food, and the last 
part of the ceremony is to have painted upon 
the forehead, with a mixture made with the 
sacred ashes, a sign of a deity worshiped. 
This mark is of different form according to 
the different deities, ‘and it is worn all day, 
great care being taken not to mar or efface it. 
It is called ‘“ Namam,” or “ The name.” It 
represents the name of the god* to whom 


It 


prayer was offered as the day began. All 
day long, wherever the person goes, every 
one he meets knows at a glance what act of 
worship was performed in the morning and 
to which deity that worship was directed.. 

We are working in India that, “ His name 
may be upon their foreheads.” 


WORK FOR WOMEN. 


Christianity has brought to the women of 
India a ray of hope and cheer. Hinduism 
has many proverbs which reveal the thoughts 
of the Hindus regarding women. A few of 
these are :— 

‘“‘ What is the chief gate of hell? Woman.” 

“¢ What is cruel? ‘The heart of a viper.” 

“What. is more cruel?) ‘Phetheartcima 
woman,” 

“‘What is most cruel of all? The heart of 
a soulless, penniless widow.” 

“‘ He is a fool who considers his wife as his 
friend.” 

“* Educating a woman is like putting a knife 
into the hands of a monkey.” 

A Hindu was discussing with a missionary 
the question of the possibility of educating 
girls. Pointing to a horse that stood near 
by he asked, “‘ Can you teach that horse to 
read?” ‘Certainly not,” replied the mis- 
sionary. “Then,” said the Hindu, “since 
you confess yourself unable to teach so intel- 
ligent an animal as a horse how to read, 
whence obtained you the boldness to declare 
that you can educate a girl?” 

In spite of this tremendous prejudice 
against the education of women, and in the 
face of the general belief that they are not 


12 


worthy of education or even capable of it, 
we have in our mission schools over eight 
thousand girls, some of whom are in higher 
courses of study. In cases not a few, the 
deputation upon its recent visit to these mis- 
sions was welcomed by public addresses, pre- 
pared and delivered by Indian women, which 
would have been a credit both in matter and 
delivery to any educated woman in England 
or in the United States. Of the nearly 
twenty-three thousand women who can read 
and write in the Madras Presidency, about 
twenty thousand are Christan women. At 
nearly every one of our twenty-five mission 
stations in these countries, we have boarding 
schools for girls where all who attend catch 
more or less of a conception of the possi- 
bilities that lie open to the educated Chris- 
tian woman of the Orient. 


SELF-SUPPORT. 


While the Christians in India are desper- 
ately poor, they are doing all they can to sup- 
port their own Christian work, and even ta 
carry the gospel to those outside. It is the 
purpose of the American Board and its mis- 
sionaries to so establish the work that there 
will not always be the necessity of sending 
money from this country for itssupport. The 
number of Christians is not yet large enough, 
nor are they financially able to support all 
their churches and schools, to say nothing of 
the work of evangelists, catechists and teach- 
ers who are working for communities which 
are ready to listen but who have not yet be- 
come Christians. 

The eighteen organized churches in Ceylon 


13 


have reached a degree of strength that enables 
them to dispense with an appropriation from 
the Board, and at the same time they are 
carrying on a home mission enterprise upon 
some neighboring islands and also a foreign 
missionary work upon the coast of India. In 
Southern India no pastor in any of the 
thirty-eight churches draws his support from 
the American Board. All of the churches 
contribute to a common fund, from which all 
of the pastors are paid. ‘The city of Madura 
has four churches, while there is another at 
Pasumalai, about three miles away. All of 
these have their Indian pastors, conduct their 
own affairs, and are strong forces for right- 
eousness in the community. 

In the church collections, gifts in kind are 
presented. Many of the people are so poor 
that to give money would be impossible. It 
is an interesting sight to see a collection taken, 
consisting of a few copper coins, but for the 
most part made up of homemade palm-leaf 
fans, bead work, plantains, eggs, limes, man- 
goes, handfuls of brown rice, small packages 
of coarse millet and chickens. Such a col- 
lection in every case means real sacrifice, and 
in many an instance it means less food for the 
donor where he did not have enough before. 

In the Marathi Mission the people are 
struggling to support all of their churches at 
an early day. Plague and famine during the 
last five years have prevented rapid progress 
in this direction. ‘The church at Bombay is 
a beehive of activity, with its able pastor, its 
active Endeavor Society, its Sunday-school 
and street-preaching band of young men, be- 
sides other commendable activities. The 
church building, while seating some five hun- 


14 


dred people, is not sufficient to accommodate 
at onetime the entire congregation. Aspecial 
service is held in one orphanage for the three 
hundred and twenty-five boys, for there 
is no place for them in the church. The 
church is located upona crowded but unusu- 
ally wide thoroughfare. At the close of the 
afternoon service, as soon as the congregation 
has passed out, a company of young men be- 
gin a service upon the steps of the church, 
where a crowd of one hundred and more are 
quickly gathered. These represent a great 
variety of nationalities and religions. One 
Sunday when the deputation was present, one 
of the speakers took the text of his remarks 
from one of the Hindu sacred books, “ With- 
out a guru there is no salvation. Come to 
the feet of the guru and partake of the waters 
of life.” Guru” means a Hindu priest. 
The preacher showed them the one high 
priest for all men, Jesus Christ. 

The Second Church in the city of Ahmed- 
nagar has in its constitution a declaration that 
it will not receive help from the Mission 
Board. It is a live, stirring church. 

The First Church in the city of Ahmed- 
nagar is a good illustration of the activity 
and independence of a native church. ‘This 
church had, at the close of last year, en- 
rolled in full membership, 529 persons. Be- 
sides these there were 260 catechumens in 
preparation for membership, and 294 baptized 
children, making a total of 1,083 persons 
uponthe church register. The Sunday-school 
has an enrolment of 1,139 members. Several 
more adults and children are in the regular 
congregation. For lack of room, the Sun- 
day-school meets in the forenoon in three 


15 


sections, and in the afternoon there are four 
separate preaching services to accommo- 
date the congregation, two separate services 
for adults, one for children and one for 
mothers with babes. The Christian En- 
deavor Society of the church, with a mem- 
bership of about five hundred, carries on five 
or six Sunday-schools in different parts of 
the city, and arranges for street preaching 
in several districts in the afternoon. The 
church has a branch with an entirely sepa- 
rate set of services ina suburb two miles away. 
During the week there are neighborhood 
prayer-meetings, women’s meetings, mothers’ 
meetings, etc. This church supports its 
own pastor, sexton and officers, and is mak- 
ing monthly contributions for the erection of 
a new church building. 

In all places fees are paid by the parents 
for the tuition of the children in the schools, 
as far as they are able to pay. Many 
schools, however, in the villages, must be 
supported by foreign funds until the people 
are better able to appreciate the value of an 
education for their children. ‘They are now 
so poor that it is no little financial contribu- 
tion to the cause for them to permit their 
children to leave off productive labor in 
order to attend school. 


CASTE AND CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY. 


It may be said, without fear of exaggera- 
tion, that every act of a Hindu’s life is reli- 
gious. Caste lies at the base of his religion, 
and this prescribes the manner and method 
of his life throughout the day. Sin is to 
him violation of the regulations and cus- 


16 


toms fixed by his caste. Acts which are not 
wrong in themselves, but which would unfa- 
vorably affect his caste standing are avoided 
as a crime. Many a Hindu would choose 
death rather than to break his caste and be 
driven from his home, shunned and de- 
-spised by his nearest and dearest friends, 
and able to associate thereafter only with 
those whom he has always regarded as pol- 
luting by their very presence. When a 
Hindu accepts Christianity and is baptized 
he breaks his caste, and so severs all of his 
old relations. He is thereafter permitted 
to associate only with those who have also 
broken caste by baptism, and who now form 
the Christian communities in India and Cey- 
lon. The number of Christians in these 
countries is rapidly increasing, so that now 
there are no less than two and one-half mil- 
lions of Christians, according to the census 
of the government recently taken, and about 
one million of these are Protestants. Among 
these Protestants are now numbered many 
who were born in the highest castes, and they 
together constitute the best educated com- 
munity in the country. The Christian asso- 
ciations in Colombo, Madras, Poona, Bombay 
and other cities exert a wide and ever-in- 
creasing influence for righteousness, purity, 
industry and intelligence. 

The Protestant Christian community of 
India has greatly increased during the last 
ten years, while the population has made but 
slightincrease. The influence of caste seems 
to be diminishing. Many educated Hindu 
societies are organized for the avowed pur- 
pose of abolishing a custom which they call 
“the curse of India.” All this makes it 


27, 


easier for the Hindu to break from his old 
life and identify himself with the Christians, 
and yet the Christian is still considered dead 
by his former friends and acquaintances. 
The Christian community in India repre- 
sents much self-sacrifice, many having given 
up everything they once possessed when 
they made public profession of their belief in 
Jesus Christ. 


HINDU IDEA OF PURITY. 


An educated Hindu said to a member of 
the deputation, — ‘ We have an entirely dif- 
ferent standard of purity and cleanliness 
from that of the Christian nations. Nothing 
is unclean to us that is ceremonially clean, 
no matter how filthy it may be from a scien- 
tific standpoint.” Daily one may see hun- 
dreds of Hindus, many of them educated and 
wealthy, bathing in the Ganges at Benares, 
just below where a large drain from the city 
empties into the river, and where all kinds 
of filth are floating. As they bathe they 
drink, and pots of the water are taken home 
to be there consumed. However filthy, to 
the Hindu the waters of the Ganges are 
always pure. 

The English goternment*has put into the 
city of Benares a water system in which the 
water is taken from the river above the city 
and thoroughly filtered. A missionary in the 
city saw an old Brahmin draw a brass bowl 
of the clear water from one of the public 
taps and then, stooping down, pick up a 
handful of dust and dirt from the center of 
the filthy street and drop it into the clear 
water. He stirred it up with his hand and 


18 


drank the mixture. When asked by the mis- 
sionary why he did it, he said, ‘‘Since the 
English have interfered with our beautiful 
Ganges water, which we always drank, it 
looks very clear, but it does not seem to 
have any body to it.” 

Christianity teaches purity and cleanli- 
ness in the outward as well as in the inward 
life. 


LARGE RETURNS FOR THE INVEST- 
MENT. 


There is probably no mission field under the 
care of the American Board in which larger 
results are obtained from the small sums of 
money given. India and Ceylon are coun- 
tries of cheap living and low wages for the 
people. It is not socheap for the foreigner, 
however, who must needs have many foreign 
things to enable him to do his work well. He 
must also have more protection from the 
severity of that tropical climate than the na- 
tive who was born there ; otherwise his health 
will give way. 

These countries differ from most mission 
fields in that the government is sympathetic. 
In a large number of cases grants of land are 
made by the government free from expense, 
upon which the mission erects buildings for its 
work. ‘These grants are usually made in the 
form of a perpetual lease, to be used by the 
mission without rent so long as it shall be 
necessary for the conduct of its work. A high 
official of the Indian government told the 
deputation that our missionaries could have 
anything they asked for within the power of 
the government to grant. He added, ‘“ Your 


19 


missionaries are so reasonable in their requests 
and so sensible in the conduct of their work 
that we have the utmost confidence in them.” 
Property that the government cannot grant out- 
right is frequently sold to the mission at but a 
fraction of itsmarket value. Justas the depu- 
tation was leaving India, the government 
made a grant of about four acres of valuable 
land just outside of the walls of Ahmednagar, 
asa site upon which the mission is to erecta 
hospital. ‘This land could not have been pur- 
chased at any price, for it is within the mili- 
tary limits, where no buildings are permitted 
to be erected. By the kindness of the Indian 
government the hospital will stand alone in 
the large open area. 

Not infrequently the government makes lib- 
eral appropriations of money to help put up 
hospitals and school buildings. The new girls’ 
school building, Capron Hall, now in process 
of construction in Madura, is to receive four 
thousand dollars in aid from the govern- 
ment. After schools have been well estab- 
lished. and the teaching conducted in 
accordance with the government standard, 
annual grants are made to the schools in ac- 
cordance with the number of pupils and the 
grades passed. All this is in direct aid of our 
missionaries’ work. The government of In- 
dia recognizes that the success of the work of 
our missionaries will be of advantage to India, 
and they are willing to help in lines that can- 
not be called directly proselyting. They will 
help support a Christian teacher, but nevera 
pastor or preacher. ‘The teacher is permitted 
to teach the Bible in his school and preach 
the gospel as much as he pleases. 

Salaries are low. ‘The pastor of the large 


20 


and flourishing church at Ahmednagar, already 
mentioned, hasa salary of 25 rupees, or $8.33 
a month,—$1oo a year. Other pastors in 
that same mission, in more rural districts, get 
15 rupees, or $5 a month. A teacher often 
gets no more than $2 or $3 a month. 
Many of the devoted Christian workers in 
these countries are working and living on this 
smaller salary. 

The deputation helped in the dedication of 
a church which cost about twenty dollars to 
build. Of course the people themselves did 
work which was not included. This “ prayer 
house” had mud walls and floor, and a 
thatched roof, and that is about all it had ex- 
cept space within the walls for about one hun- 
dred people to sit upon the ground, packed 
like sardines ina box. Another church visited 
was built of stone and lime, had a tile roof and 
a hard floor, with plenty of light and air, and 
would seat one hundred and _ seventy-five 
people. This cost one hundred dollars, and 
will last a half century. A pastor’s house in 
some places costs twenty-five or thirty dollars, 
and aschoolhouse as muchasachurch. The 
same building frequently answers for both 
school and church. In larger towns and 
cities, buildings cost more and need to be 
larger. ‘There are no wooden buildings ; all 
are of mud, stone or brick. 

It is easy to see that with the aid given from 
outside sources, and with the low cost of sala- 
ries and buildings, a large work can be carried 
on with a small amount of money. 


The results of the last Indian census have 
not yet been published in full, but from what 


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has been made public, it is evident that 
there has been a marked growth in the num- 
ber of Indian Christians during the past 
decade. Government returns now show not 
less than one million Protestant Christians 
in that country, which is an average increase 
for the country of not far from seventy per 
cent in the ten years. In some parts the 
growth in numbers has been more than one 
hundred per cent. 

Twenty-five years ago the American Board 
had 70 missionaries in these three missions, 
now it has but 16 more; then but 115 out- 
stations were occupied, while now work is 
carried on in 513 places; there were then 
66 churches with 3,215 members, while there 
are now 105 churches with a membership of 
11,842. The present membership of the 
churches connected with these missions is 
greater than the membership of all of the 
churches in all of the missions of our Board 
(including India) twenty-five years ago. 
Then there were 424 trained native pastors, 
preachers, teachers and Bible readers, while 
there are now 1,539. The reports then took 
no notice of amounts given by the natives for 
the support of their own work, while last year 
their gifts amounted to over nineteen thousand 
dollars. 

In the twenty-five years, the number of 
trained native Christian workers, many of 
whom are now supported entirely by the 
people, has increased nearly fourfold, and 
the number of church members in about the 
same proportion, and the ratio of increase is 
becoming greater with each decade. 


FOR REFERENCE. 


IN Gober ol inissions tacts. cenftel sete Loren lO 


In Papal Lands, 3; in Pacific Islands, 2; in 
Japan, 3; in China, 4; in India and Ceylon, 
3; in Africa, 3; in Turkey, 4. 


Total number of missionaries. . . . . . 544 


Ordained, 167; wives, 168; single women, 
S94; physicians, 42; unordained, 4. 


Total number of native helpers . . . + 3,483 
Total number of churches . « «ses 505 
Total number of members. . . . « + 50,892 
Total number of schools . . . . «..- 45,280 


Theological Seminaries, Colleges, Boarding 
and High Schools, village and district schools, 
and the kindergarten. 


Potalaumber of pupisesils be is | s oi) ul 02,100 
Number of hospitals and dispensaries . . 50 
Number of patients treated. . . «. ~. » 343,000 
Accessions on confession of faith, or nine 

pet centincrease «>. . « + « « « 4,055 
Contributions from native sources . . $147,879 


Note. —For the adequate support of the work 
we need at least $60,000 more annually from living 
donors, 


Note. — For steadiness of income for the work of 
the Board, the Twentieth Century Fund is proposed 
and commended, namely, $250,000. 


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Send contributions for the work of the American 
Board to 
FRANK H. WIGGIN, Treasurer, 


Congregational House, 


Boston, 


The literature, leaflets and letters of the American 
Board may be had by addressing 


Mr. CHARLES E. SWETT, Congregational House, 14 
Beacon Street, Boston, Mass. 


Or at the Offices of the District Secretaries: 


Rev. C. C. CREEGAN, D,.D., 4th Avenue and 22d 
Street, New York City. 


Rev. A. N. Hircncock, Ph.D., 153 La Salle Street, 
Chicago, Ill. 


“THE MISSIONARY HERALD.” 


Single subscriptions, 75 cents; in clubs of ten, 
50 cents each, 


FORM OF BEQUEST: 


I give, devise, and bequeath unto the “ Americar 
Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions,” 
incorporated in Massachusetts in 1812, the sum of 
PEPER APRS Pome oe Dollars, to be expended for the 
appropriate objects of said corporation. 


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